1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to product display racks. More particularly, the present invention relates to a display rack for displaying product on a plurality of shelves, and which can be quickly and easily converted from its display condition to a stable, mobile condition, whereby the loaded display rack can be safely moved from point to point.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The prior art abounds with display racks, as contrasted to conventional shelving, for displaying products, such as bottled and canned products, in special areas of marketing facilities such as super markets, and the like. Many of these are stationary racks to which the product intended to be displayed is brought from a storage area either by hand or by some form of mobile cart. In either event, an intermediate handling of the product between its storage point and its display point is necessary. To eliminate this intermediate handling of product, smaller racks have simply been made mobile by the addition of wheels so that a loaded rack can be moved between storage area and display area. Because the load capacity of such racks is relatively small, product can be safely moved with little, if any, further modification to the rack. The same, however, cannot be said for normally stationary, large display racks which, because of their size and load capacity cannot be made safely mobile simply by the addition of wheels.
Accordingly, there are in the prior art display racks or carts that have been specifically designed for mobility and for transporting and displaying large product loads. Such mobile racks, however, usually have been difficult to maneuver in confining areas, and generally have not provided for adequately securing the product load against shifting and resulting breakage during movement. One mobile display rack that has taken these factors into consideration, however, is shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,159,831. The mobile rack of this patent comprises a wheeled frame structure having a plurality of horizontal shelves vertically adjustable and pivotably attached to two vertical tracks on the back wall of the frame structure. As each shelf is loaded with containers, the next higher shelf is pivoted into contact with the container tops, and the procedure repeated with each succeeding higher shelf until all shelves are loaded. The frame structure also comprises a similarly pivoted top cap which can be brought into contact with the tops of the containers on the top shelf, and which can be maintained in a state of compression with the entire stacked load by means of an adjustable tie down strap connecting the cap with the bottom shelf, whereby all of the containers can be firmly secured against shifting during movement of the rack. While the described mobile rack should function satisfactorily in storing and safely moving a large load of product to a display area, its pivoting shelves used in conjunction with the tie down strap for securing the load against movement by compression is a rather awkward arrangement which can be ineffective if not used properly.